Chapter 16

The sun hung high in the center of the sky.

With a basket strapped to his back, Asuma carefully stood on the lake's surface, using the tongs in his hand to pick up floating trash and toss it into the basket behind him.

"Damn it! This is nothing like the ninja life I imagined!"

He ground his teeth as he spoke, then turned and shot a vicious glare at Uchiha Mo, who was reading a scroll beneath a tree by the lakeshore.

"Stop complaining, Asuma. I asked my father—genin have to complete a certain number of low-level missions before they can officially take on C-rank missions or above."

Kurenai Yuhi carefully clamped onto an empty can, then tossed it with practiced ease. She bent slightly, and the can dropped straight into the basket.

Nearly a month had passed since Team 8 was formed. During that time, every mission they had received had been D-rank work, such as cleaning trash off the lake or helping people find lost pets.

Fortunately, Mo had also taught the three of them several training methods to strengthen their ninja fundamentals during missions. Thus, Kurenai Yuhi and Hayate Gekko were still able to keep their patience and did not grow too restless.

"I think Teacher Mo is just lazy! I heard Kakashi and the others took on a C-rank mission and left the village last week!"

Asuma snorted. Seeing that Mo was not paying attention to him, he immediately stuck out his tongue and made a face.

Yet at that exact moment, he seemed to sense something and suddenly turned around.

"Huh?!"

Asuma's heart jolted. His chakra faltered, and he fell straight into the water.

Mo withdrew his gaze and refocused on the scroll, ignoring Asuma.

Over the past month, Mo had already thoroughly mastered Kakashi's Chidori scroll. Moreover, the hand seals for Chidori were no secret in the original story, so he had spent more of his time refining the technique.

"Almost there."

Mo put away the scroll and rose to his feet, thoughts rapidly surging through his mind.

"The external key to Chidori lies in bodily activation strong enough to support its thrusting speed and generate powerful chakra. Its inner core is an extreme Lightning Release nature transformation, using the characteristics of lightning..."

As he thought, Mo raised both hands.

Ox—Rabbit—Monkey!

After completing the three hand seals, Mo gripped his right wrist with his left hand as powerful chakra frantically gathered in his palm.

"Chidori!"

"Screee—!"

Following a sharp, strange cry like a thousand birds calling in unison, a blazing white light burst from Mo's right palm. Dense arcs of electricity danced wildly, crackling with sizzling currents.

The two people on the lake and Asuma, who had just climbed out of the water, immediately turned their gazes toward him. Shisui, who had been practicing swordsmanship nearby, also suddenly felt an intense sense of danger. He abruptly stopped and swiftly leaped back to widen the distance.

A bead of cold sweat slid down Shisui's temple as he stared at the lightning in Mo's hand.

"What a dangerous technique!"

Chidori, an A-rank ninjutsu, was also the most powerful Lightning Release ninjutsu Uchiha Mo currently possessed.

In truth, a ninjutsu's rank only represented its difficulty to learn. Although the power of most ninjutsu was proportional to their learning difficulty, Chidori, despite being A-rank, was no weaker than some ultimate techniques in power. Its practicality was even among the very best of all ninjutsu.

Uchiha Mo turned toward the large tree behind him, then thrust his right palm forward like lightning.

"Pshk!"

With a crisp, strange sound, Mo's entire forearm pierced through the thick tree like a blade stabbing through tofu, meeting no resistance whatsoever!

Immediately afterward, lightning exploded, dealing a second wave of damage as the tree crashed to the ground.

The onlookers' eyes widened at once. The three members of Team 8 all fell into the water after losing focus, while Shisui approached with an excited expression.

"Brother, what technique is that? Can I learn it?"

Shisui's chakra natures were Fire, Wind, Lightning, and Yin, and Chidori could be said to be a technique tailor-made for the Uchiha...

Mo shook his right hand and looked at Shisui, replying evenly, "No. Master everything you're learning now first."

After all, trying to swallow too much at once would only lead to indigestion. Moreover, the core of Shisui's fighting style was the Body Flicker Technique, which clashed with Chidori's requirement of a thrusting charge to maximize its power. It was not suited for him.

Perhaps many Chidori-derived ninjutsu could be incorporated into Shisui's arsenal, but before his combat ability had fully taken shape and he developed his own fighting instincts, teaching him Chidori would not be a good thing.

With that, Mo ignored the dejected Shisui. He turned, stepped onto the lake's surface, fished the three members of Team 8 out of the water, and tossed them onto the shore.

He stood by the lake, lowering his gaze to look at the three members of Team 8 sprawled on the ground.

"Gather at the training ground the day after tomorrow. I'll take on a C-rank mission you've been looking forward to for a long time. If you fail to satisfy me then, get ready to pick up trash for a month."

With that, Uchiha Mo used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished from the spot. Shisui hurriedly followed, leaving only the three members of Team 8 lying on the ground.

After Uchiha Mo returned home and put his things away, his consciousness swiftly sank into his mind, immediately focusing on the panel.

After half a month of Chidori training, Mo's Lightning Release proficiency had surged by nearly four percent. Green Child's unlock progress had also reached 10.82% + 16.23%. If he further developed and perfected the Chidori system, his Lightning Release proficiency would presumably be the first to reach the twenty percent threshold.

At that point, once he unlocked Violent Lightning and obtained its core lightning-manipulation ability, Mo could begin developing his own kekkei genkai. However, all of that was still rather distant for him. His immediate priority was completing Cat Granny's mission and obtaining the Kusanagi Sword.

With that in mind, Uchiha Mo left Shisui a note telling him to cook, then hurried out of the house and headed for the mission hall to select a mission.

The mission location this time had to be the Land of Birds, so Mo could investigate the underground black-market merchant. Secondly, the mission could not be too easy. Mo had just displayed Chidori before the three members of Team 8, and together with the information he had inadvertently leaked to Kakashi earlier, this was the perfect opportunity for Mo to legitimize his fire-control ability.

The mission needed enough twists and turns to give Mo a chance to display this ability in front of everyone.

Uchiha Mo moved quickly, reaching his destination in less than a quarter of an hour. He stepped into the hall, his gaze continuously sweeping across the mission boards around him.

"Land of Waves... Land of Hot Water..."

Uchiha Mo's standards were rather strict. Although he had scanned every mission currently posted on the boards, he had failed to find one he found satisfactory.

Several missions in the Land of Birds did meet Mo's requirements fairly well, but they had all been classified as B-rank missions due to their difficulty, beyond what their team could currently accept.

Mo frowned. Just as he was about to take a B-rank mission and negotiate with the Third Hokage, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.

He turned his head with a cold frown, and a sunny-smiling blond-haired guy entered his field of vision.